Macro Picture With Sony A37 Slr

Your camera should take excellent pictures. Turn off the flash. Use P (Program) mode for your shots and 100iso. Bring lights close to the coin at 10 and 2 O'clock. Use a tripod to hold your camera and shoot at 90 degree angles to the coin. Back your lens off until it focuses properly. Use a macro lens or extension tubes if you have them. Read a good portion of this forum to get more ideas. Your shots should come out fine.

I use 6500k (kelvin) florescent bulbs 100 watt equivelent. 5500 degree kelvin bulbs would be better. You should be able to find something near that at your hardware store. The k or kelvin rating should appear on the packaging. Other users of this forum prefer the Jansco lights. These lights are discussed in many forum posts.

The lights should be close to the coin. Experiment and take lots of shots. Use your 2 second timer on the camera to keep trigger motion to a minimum.

Keep in mind, you must take the limitations of your lens into account. What is its' minimum focusing distance? Is it a prime or a zoom, and if zoom, at what focal length are you using it?

And how familiar are you with the basic settings of photography - aperture, ISO and exposure? These are of critical importance in coin photography. I don't mean to discourage you, but especially with a dSLR these are factors which must be mastered for coin photography.